Drug dealer dad dobbed himself in to cops

Jessica Grewal
Senior Reporter APN Newsdesk NSW Bureau
Working from Sydney, Jessica specialises in crime/court reporting, filing for APN’s regional mastheads in Northern NSW as well as providing national content for the group.
She was previously Chief Reporter at the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Hervey Bay, Queensland where she grew up and trained.
Early in her career, she was named Queensland Young Journalist of the Year at the Clarion Awards.
More recently, she was finalist at the 2013 Kennedy Awards for Excellence in NSW Journalism in both the...

A DRUG-addicted dad, who told police he set up a mini-meth business to meet his child support payments, has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Joel James Garland, 31, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to trafficking in a dangerous drug and other related offences.

He was living with his parents at Mudjimba last year when police raided the home and uncovered drug paraphernalia and a phone containing evidence of drug deals.

Garland's next move landed him in even more trouble.

Crown Prosecutor Jennifer O'Brien said Garland revealed to police he had been selling meth to up to four regular customers from August 2015 to March 2016 and on a "good week” made a profit of $500-600.

She said he went on to tell police he "stayed off phones as much as he could” (to avoid detection) and would arrange the supply of meth for people he saw on the street or at work.

Defence barrister Simone Bain said her client had previously held down a job as an electrician but his life had gone "downhill” since a relationship breakdown in 2013.

She said while some of the funds did go to child support, the majority of the money was used to feed Garland's own drug habit.

She argued the offending was "very low level” and had her client not been so forthcoming with police, they would not have had enough evidence to charge him with trafficking.

Justice Glenn Martin agreed Garland's co-operation with police needed to be taken into account but said "general deterrence” was also important.

He said it appeared Garland continued to use drugs until recently and had taken "no real steps” towards rehabilitation.